prayer

This week we are in committing ourselves to prayer for Kingdom growth here in the county, that God’s LOVE would be made known anew in our area. My prayer this week is that He would give us open eyes to see how we can show His love to our neighborhood, and creativity in addressing needs. Will you join us in prayer this week? I’ve placed a prayer guide on the prayer link to the right. May He bless as we serve Him and others.

the goodness of God

I’m doing my best to read John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion this year. Today I was encouraged by this piece from section I.14.2:

“…In the very order of events [creation], we ought diligently to ponder on the paternal goodness of God toward the human race, in not creating Adam until he had liberally enriched the earth with all good things. Had he placed him on an earth barren and unfurnished; had he given life before light, he might have seemed to pay little regard to his interest. But now that he has arranged the motions of the sun and stars for man’s use, has replenished the air, earth, and water, with living creatures, and produced all kinds of fruit in abundance for the supply of food, by performing the office of a provident and industrious head of a family, he has shown his wondrous goodness toward us…”

I was blessed by this today. To think that before humanity was created, God prepared a rich home for us. He prepared our awesome world, w/ all its blessings and riches, THEN created humanity. This displays His great love for us, His goodness, and His plan to bless us. We serve a great God.

happy valley – bellingham cohousing

Having not written on the old blog in a while, there is a lot to say. Since my last entry on march 3rd, a lot has happened. We decided that we feel the Lord is leading us to move and work in the Happy Valley neighborhood in Bellingham (#17 on the neighborhood map, next door to I-5 to the east and Fairhaven (#19) to the west, and WWU (#15) to the north). Folks have asked, “Why Happy Valley?” My answer = while I investigated neighborhoods in Bellingham, I found myself repeatedly daydreaming about how I could serve this neighborhood, which wasn’t happening in the other neighborhoods. This coupled with the encouragement of others to check out the area. Happy Valley/Fairhaven was an area that continued to be an overlapping neighborhood when people suggested places to pray about. “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” (Acts 15:28).

K8, on our family blog (http://mymomsaysiambalanced.blogspot.com/), expressed some thoughts on moving to Bellingham, which I think are well worthy of sharing here:

When Aaron and I lived in Langley, we would often drive down to Bellingham for an afternoon. We would go for a walk around Lake Padden and have supper at La Fiamma. Our conversation at one point or another would lead to how cool it would be to live in Bellingham and how much we loved that community. Yesterday, we had a little outing to Bellingham. We hiked around Lake Padden and ate at La Fiamma. The only difference between the trips a few years ago and yesterday was that we had Montana with us AND we signed a lease on an apartment in Bellingham. CRAZY! It's so exciting to be taking yet another step in our journey and cool to see it come full circle. Little did we know 2 or 3 years ago that we would be moving to Bellingham. It seems God was planting those Bellingham seeds in our hearts. It makes me think of Proverbs 19:21 (from the Message)... "We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails."

K8 mentions we signed a lease on a place in Happy Valley, and the story is cool. After sending out a prayer letter to folks, expressing our decision to serve in Happy Valley, I received an email from Larry. He expressed that if we were going to be in Happy Valley to check out an available place for rent in the Bellingham Cohousing (http://www.bellcoho.com/). I had driven by a few months ago, looked it up online thinking it would be a cool place to live, but discovered at the time that there were no openings. So I was excited to discover that it was now an option. It is a campus of condos where residents intentionally allow their lives to overlap w/ their neighbors. There are optional shared meals, and lots of opportunities to share life w/ others (check out more on the website). K8 and I have always talked about living in this manner, so we are stoked to move in April. God surprised us, and opened this door for us to start living and serving in Happy Valley.

a story from the run

Nearly every week, K8 and I try to hang out w/ different people. One week we invited a family to our place for dinner. Having never hung out w/ them before, the dinner gave us a great opportunity to get to know them more. We heard a bit of their story, how they met, their hopes, and their journey in the church and faith. It was great. As they were putting on their coats, they mentioned that we were the first people in a couple years to invite them over. This family is not new to the community, and we (the newcomers) were the first to invite them over. It made K8 and I sad to think about it. This couple, and all of us, long for community. We long to belong. You know, "Making your way in the world today takes everything you got. Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go, where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came." We all want that, and yet it's out of our comfort zone to invite someone along w/ what we're doing; so, sometimes we don't. My prayer is that you and I would be challenged to action, moved to include others in our lives, and that we would do it. May He bless our movement and building of community together.

synergy

As we move through the process of creating community, I am again struck by the need for community. No brainer, right? Having others to keep us in check, others to pray w/, others to have fun w/, others to dream and move toward those dreams w/ - all these things are a blessing. As we narrow down a "place" to plant, I find myself needing to focus on "people." Who will join us in the launch phase of the church plant? Who will join us in doing life together in community? My prayer is that God will rise up folks who will love and worship God w/ us, while we love a serve others and each other. My prayer is that He will bring people before us who will synergistically move w/ us in these things, someone w/ a passion for worship and prayer, someone with a heart for hospitality and outreach, someone who loves to see families grow in the Lord together, someone who enjoys administration stuff, and all w/ a heart to see God transform their lives, and their neighborhood and their city. My prayer is that these folks will cross our paths this month, and daydream w/ us. Will you join me in this prayer?

incarnation

"As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (Jn 17:18). Think about it for a moment: The sovereign Lord of all creation - who's ways, means, and thoughts are unknown (except for what He chooses to reveal), who is infinite, all powerful and all knowing - came and lived among His creation in a limited body and in a manner where that creation could understand and relate. GOD (underlined) came and overlapped His life on earth w/ ours; He became our neighbor, bringing God's peace and restoration w/ Him. This is a piece of His incarnation on earth. Awesome! God the Father sent God the Son to live next door to us, and now God the Spirit has been sent w/ us to be incarnate in our world. We are called to mimic Christ and truly become neighbors to our community, bringing His peace and restoration w/ us. As we narrow our neighborhood search down, we are, at the same time, discerning what strategy of incarnation God is calling us to pursue in that neighborhood. We want our lives that overlap w/ those in our community, our neighbors. We desire to move in synergy w/ what is already happening there, while breathing the breath of life into those we encounter and partner w/. This "incarnation" will be different in different places. Last week I met with an awesome pastor in the Birchwood neighborhood of Bellingham, Cameron Garcia of NW Community Church. His incarnation in Birchwood is seen in community development. Mitchell and Rachelle Senti's incarnation is at the Three Trees Coffee House in downtown Bellingham, while my homies at Mosaic church in Bellingham do a blend of working both in and out of church, focusing on service. Incarnation, our "being with" our neighbors has different faces. Our desire is to plant a church and live a lifestyle that is both in, for, and with our neighbors, to borrow a thought from Baron Miller, meaning we are literally IN the neighborhood we focus on, advocating FOR the betterment of our neighborhood, and doing it all WITH our neighbors. We want to be like Christ in, for, and with that place.
As you pray for us and our discernment, please pray that the Holy Spirit would counsel us in the best way we can be incarnate in the neighborhood He is calling us to. You can click on the prayer link to the right for some specific incarnational strategies we are praying through. I will be praying for you, that God would counsel you as to how you can further be an incarnational presence in your neighborhood. Please contact me if you want to daydream and brainstorm together about this. And may God bless you in your incarnational journey.

regret

Today I am a bit angry at myself. I was having a lunch meeting w/ a Bellingham pastor, when we were interrupted by a guy sitting in the booth next to us. Prior to the lunch, I had prayed that God would use me to encourage this pastor and anyone who crossed my path. This interruption was an invitation to encourage. This man had overheard our conversation about church and mission, and decided to ask who we were. This man expressed he has heart for ministry and for God. He also told us he had just moved to town, is looking for work, and is living w/ relatives (and has until March to find his own place). The pastor gave him a couple resources to check out, and then he returned to his booth. As we left we said goodbye to the man, but I felt a tug at my heart to grab his contact info and to pray w/ him. I did neither. I feel like God opened the door to, at least, encourage this guy, but I was blind to the opportunity. As I got in my car to go home, I decided to drive by the restaurant to see if he was still there; he was not. I regret not acting upon the Spirit's leading. I wonder how often I miss out on the chance to breathe life into someone's day, b/c it wasn't on my terms. Those moments of "ministry surprise" catch us all off guard, especially when we are preoccupied w/ something or someone. And yet, we can not ignore them. My prayer for myself, and you, is that we will learn to be aware of the big picture around us, open to the Spirit's leading, and have the clarity to act in the midst of surprise moments. And, I am reminded that in God's sovereignty, He chooses us (w/ all our imperfections and flaws) to partner w/ Him in ministry. So, I pray that God will encourage that guys today, despite my "miss", and resolve to submit myself more to the Holy Spirit.